The Sins of the Fathers
by Ghola Boy
Summary: Fifteen years after the failure of Instrumentality
1. Chapter One

The Sins of the Fathers  
  
Chapter One  
  
Something ugly this way comes  
Through my fingers sliding inside  
All these blessings all these burns  
I'm godless underneath your cover  
Search for pleasure search for pain  
In this world now I am undying  
I unfurl my flag my nation helpless  
  
Black black heart why would you offer more  
Why would you make it easier on me to satisfy  
I'm on fire I'm rotting to the core  
I'm eating all your kings and queens  
All your sex and your diamonds  
  
  
Black Black Heart 2.0, David Usher   
  
  
  
On the edge of Tokyo-3 was a lake. The lake was a relatively new feature as geological   
time scales run, as it was only some fifteen years old. Its appearance coincided with the   
destruction of Evangelion Unit-00 and the sixteenth angel. The manner of Unit-00's   
destruction was what made the event memorable. That of course is not to say the   
destruction of an Evangelion unit is a common event, it was just that this was a   
particularly selfless act. Rei Ayanami the pilot of Unit-00 detonated the engine; the   
result was the destruction of the angel, the formation of this lake and the death of the   
pilot. Two of these facts are public knowledge.  
  
On the edge of this lake stood an apartment building. Actually the lake was ringed   
with apartment buildings. In the fifteen some years that had passed since the end of the   
angel invasion Toyko-3 had undergone a miraculous transformation. Under direct   
control of the UN it had become an international center of research and technology. If   
necessity is the mother of invention, then Tokyo-3 was the weird aunt that helped raise   
the children. While the human population of the earth was fighting for it's very right to   
exist, it was at its creative peak. For the last fifteen years the fruits of that creativity   
were being harvested and distributed to humanity. It was generally accepted that the   
innovations that NERV had created were the property of all humanity. From the   
outside it would appear that NERV's sole function was to oversee the distribution of it's   
accumulated knowledge, and lead the way for research in new areas. But that was   
from the outside.  
  
In any case the apartment building in question had a particular occupant. This   
occupant was sleeping the deep sleep that can only be brought on by the excessive   
consumption of alcohol. That sleep was about to be disturbed.   
  
"God I hate that noise" She thought to herself.  
  
Even thinking that hurt more that it should have. This morning's hangover was   
shaping up to be extraordinary, and she hadn't even silenced the alarm yet. The noise   
continued. The alarm itself was not so much your average buzzing, but incessant   
mechanical bird song. Which of course matched the device itself, a small blue plastic   
bird she'd been given as a gift after she had punished her previous timepiece  
  
"Tweeeet, tweet-tweet, tweet-tweet"  
  
Abruptly she sat up, and instantly regretted it; nonetheless she to the edge of the bed   
towards the dresser at the foot of the bed, which was currently keeping the bird off the   
floor. With her left hand she reached out and ran her fingers over the top, hunting for   
the small heat sensitive disk that would shut the damn thing up.  
  
"Ah"  
  
The silence however was not all that she had hoped for. It was that weightily, grating   
kind of silence that only came as a result of the worst kind of hangovers. She rested   
there wedged between the dresser and the bed, the heel of her hand and the backs of   
her knees supporting her. A couple of deep breaths followed. It became apparent to   
her that now awake this was the kind of hangover that would not get better without   
medical intervention.   
  
She stood up and balanced, having almost 45 years of practice standing it was easy.   
Her right hand went up and pushed the hair back from her face as she looked down at   
the clock.  
  
"5:30, what idiot decided that a 7:00 teleconference was convenient for everyone?" She   
spoke aloud in tone of voice that indicated that she was is a considerable amount of   
discomfort, and yet would elicited no sympathy had there been someone there to hear   
her.  
  
Not waiting for an answer she moved towards the door. She looked up to the   
bathroom then proceeded instead to the kitchen. As she opened the fridge she thought   
to herself 'who'd of thought that one day half of my beer fridge would be filled with   
bottle water?' She grabbed a bottle, opened it and tossed the cap in the sink, which she   
instantly regretted. The cap somehow managed to ricochet off every glass and empty   
beer can in the sink, which of course filled the entire kitchen with a hideously mind   
wrenching noise.   
  
Once in the bathroom she set down the now half empty bottle and after a couple of   
exceedingly painful moments of fumbling with the child proof cap popped two   
capsules into her mouth. That much done, she turned on the shower and stepped in.  
  
After she'd stepped out and toweled off she leaned over the sink and looked in the   
mirror.   
  
"More gray", she muttered as she proceeded to carefully grab a hold of one at a time   
and pull.  
  
"Ow"  
  
After a dozen with no appreciable difference she gave up, hoping she'd remember to   
pick up some dye before it got too bad. As she was thinking this her right hand,   
seemingly on it's own accord, started tracing the scar that started between her breasts   
and ran down to the edge of her ribcage. As she became aware of this her facial   
expression changed to one of frightened confusion. Both hands immediately shot   
behind her back as she turned and stormed out of the room.  
  
Back in her bedroom she was thinking to herself, 'gee maybe I'll wear the back dress   
and the red jacket', with no small amount of sarcasm  
  
Opening the top drawer of the dresser she saw only one pair of panties. She grabbed   
them and leaning one shoulder against the wall put them on. Her balance was   
apparently not that good just yet.  
  
She looked around the room and spotted the bra she had worn only the day before. She   
picked it up and gave it a quick sniff.  
  
'Well that takes care of today, I guess tomorrow I'll wear the long skirt and the tight   
jacket and then I'll have to do laundry.'  
  
The rest of the dressing maneuver passed without incident, due in no small part to the   
fact that the wall upon which she was leaning remained motionless.   
  
Back to the bathroom for a couple of quick strokes of her hair with a brush, and her hair   
was securely fasted in the back with a wide silver barrette. The barrette had been a gift   
from a former roommate.  
  
"I should really call him, maybe go visit at the cabin."  
  
One more quick visit to the kitchen for another bottle of water and a protein bar and she   
was out the door. The protein bars were relatively new to the morning routine; carbs   
went straight to her hips.   
  
About 20 seconds after she'd left the apartment she returned. Her expression was even   
more sour that it was before she had left. To a casual observer it might seem like she   
was about to give up on the day and go back to bed. She stood inside the doorway as   
she let her eyes run over the room. There were several empty beer cans on the coffee   
table in front of the television. To the left of the television was a galvanized steel   
garbage can, which looked quite out of place indoors, particularly in the living room. It   
was however strategically placed. She could on all but worst of nights land an empty   
can in it from anywhere in the apartment. Her eyes tracked to the right, across the   
television and then narrowed. The expression on her face lightened then as she   
walked over to the corner by the TV and pick up what appeared to be car keys.  
  
At 6:04, she nudged the car into the queue for the train. Traffic had been light and she'd   
only had to threaten one person's life. Nothing spectacular just some idiot that tried to   
jump the green as she was flying through a very stale yellow light.   
  
The light at the top of the queue turned green and she inched forward. Seconds later an   
attendant appeared and ushered her into a bay on the train. Once the car was in place   
she cut the engine, and leaned over to open the glove box. She reached in and   
produced a blister pack of sublingual B12. She popped one out and put it under her   
tongue. This was a trick she learned in college during Oktober Fest. Alcohol tends to   
flush some vitamins out of the body, B-12 in particular. A little pellet of B-12 under the   
tongue consequently does wonders for a hangover, since as it dissolves it goes directly   
into the blood. The pack went back into the glove box; she dropped the seat back and   
immediately fell asleep.  
  
  
  
+++  
  
  
  
  
The woman behind the desk looked up at the man standing in front of her. He was tall,   
at least 6'2", brown hair, green eyes. There was a hint of military about him but it was   
very subtle. It was almost as if her was trying very hard to be non-descript. He was   
wearing a dark flannel suit not quite black but darker than what would be considered   
charcoal, it could almost be considered light black if such a colour existed. On his left   
arm was a bright blue armband, and stenciled in white were the letters UN.  
  
"I'm afraid she's not in yet sir," the woman said, trying very hard to sound apologetic in   
the hope that it would mask her contempt.  
  
"I can see that." he spoke slowly," are you sure she knows about the teleconference?"  
  
"Sir, I was sitting right here when you talked to her yesterday. You said 'I'm sure I   
don't have to remind you about tomorrow morning's conference' and she said 'If you're   
so sure why have you mentioned it 4 times in the last 2 hours'"  
  
"Oh yes of course" he said.  
  
'Bitch' he thought to himself, 'damn NERV people are so still full of themselves.'  
  
The receptionist cleared her throat. The man lifted his eyes to look at her only to see her   
pointing at the door behind him.   
  
"Ah, Commander Misato, and almost on time."  
  
Misato tried to give him one of her patented paint peeling glares, but she was still to   
hung over, and it came out looking like a confused 'I have bad gas face' instead.  
  
"We need to go over some things before the meeting."  
  
"You can have 15 minutes, in 15 minutes."  
  
"Ah, well", he paused, "I'm afraid that may not be enough time Commander"  
  
"What part of what I just said wasn't clear," she spat.   
  
'I am so not in the mood for this', she thought to herself.  
  
"There is quite a bit of material to go over."  
  
'He dropped the commander that time,' Misato thought to herself.  
  
"Let me put this in a way that will be easer for you to comprehend, I'll give you a   
choice, 5 minutes now or, 15 minutes later."  
  
All this excitement seemed to be making her feel better, nothing like a little   
confrontation early in the morning to get the blood flowing. It's quite amazing what a   
little extra oxygen in your brain will do for you.  
  
Misato tried again for the 'paint peeling' look and managed to pull it of this time. The   
effect was almost instant, as evidenced by the change in the man's posture.  
  
"15 minutes then, in your workroom?"  
  
Misato thought for a moment, thinking her office might be more appropriate. After all   
these years she finally was beginning to think of it as her office, and not Ikari's. She   
vividly remembered every time she was in there standing at the end of that massive   
empty room, facing off against the man that many now considered to be the devil   
himself. A thought she herself used to share. She wondered if it was the time that had   
passed that softened her view, or was it, as she occasionally feared, that she was in fact   
becoming him.  
  
'That's ridiculous, I could never, ever do what he did'  
  
"No," she replied, "I'll be in my office."  
  
"Ah, very well then." he managed to speak with a measured calmness.  
  
Misato then turned to face the receptionist, having already emptied her mind of the   
man's presence.  
  
"Coffee?"  
  
"On your desk in the workroom, Shall I bring it to your office?"  
  
"No that's fine" she said already walking thought the door she just opened, "actually I'll   
need your help in here for a moment please"  
  
"Yes ma'am," she said as she stood quickly.  
  
"Close the door please"  
  
Misato walked right to her desk and sat down. As promised there was a stainless steel   
decanter, which was filling the room with the aroma of fresh coffee. She smiled   
knowingly, that was her first decision after being appointed Commander. She called   
the head of facilities and had him change the coffee supplier. It was almost double the   
price but she was quite sure it was worth it, especially on mornings like this. It had   
been a running joke for years now with some of the staff that had been here from the   
beginning. The first change any one noticed was a week after she took over the coffee   
got better.  
  
"Oh, come in, sit down please... uh …"Misato suddenly realized that she didn't have a   
clue what this woman's name was.  
  
"Julie ma'am" she said quietly.  
  
"I'm sorry, coffee?"  
  
"Yes ma'am, please"  
  
The ritual of pouring and cream and sugar was at this point quite welcome. It helped   
covered the awkwardness of not remembering Julie's name, which of course made her   
pause.   
  
'How many assistants is that now? Am I really that hard to work for?'  
  
Julie finished, one sugar two cream and sat carefully on the edge of the chair facing the   
desk, almost as if she didn't want to look too comfortable, which incidentally she didn't.   
She took a sip and looked expectantly at Misato.   
  
Misato was watching the little bubbles swirl around in her cup. After a moment she   
looked up and remembered that Julie was probably scared to death.  
  
"Oh ya, nothing really, I just didn't want to leave you alone out there with him. He's   
probably pretty pissed."  
  
The assistant managed to look both relieved and confused at the same time. Which   
really isn't that difficult a task. It's a face most people manage to create everyday. It's   
usually precipitated by something failing to end in disaster, and having no idea why it   
didn't.   
  
"Yes ma'am, he did seem rather upset."  
  
"Julie?"  
  
"Yes ma'am"  
  
"Stop calling me ma'am"  
  
"Yes ma'am"  
  
"Hello? Any one there? You just did it again. Please call me Misato, at the very least   
when we're in here by our selves."  
  
Julie was now confused, bordering on terror. This couldn't possibly be the same   
Commander Misato that the previous temp had warned her about.  
  
"Yes, Misato," she breathed hesitantly.  
  
"So Julie, your Japanese is very good, I'm assuming that with a name like Julie you're   
not from around here?"  
  
  
"No ma'…'" she caught herself, "No, my mother was Japanese, I grew up in Canada,   
Yellowknife mostly. I just transferred in from Elsmere. My mom insisted that I learn   
Japanese. It's kind of funny now that I'm in Japan she won't even speak to me in   
English on the phone. Dad still tries to speak Japanese, but he's really not very good"  
  
Misato found herself smiling, always happy to find people who still had both parents.  
  
"How do you like it here so far?"  
  
"I really like it a lot everything's so, so high tech, like my apartment. Elsmere is still a   
little rough around the edges, you know Quonset huts and construction crews."  
  
"mmm," Misato was far away, lost in her own thoughts.  
  
"He's probably gone by now, I'll go make sure the office is set up, if that's ok?" Julie   
said.  
  
"Yes, thanks, I'll be over in a couple of minutes." Replied Misato.  
  
Misato was intently watching her coffee again. She resolved to herself to try and keep   
this assistant, and at the very least discover what it was that she was doing that seemed   
to be scaring them away.   
  
Eugene Morris, the UN Special Observer of the NERV Executive Office, stood in front of   
Commander Misato Katsuragi's desk. He was standing since there was only one chair   
in the room and it was otherwise occupied. He was a good 3 meters from the desk. He   
would have taken up position closer but that scale of the room didn't seem to allow for   
it.  
  
'This isn't an office it's an interrogation room, or possibly a dance hall if the raised the   
ceiling a bit,' Morris thought to himself, 'this room is obviously designed to intimidate   
people, and I would say it performing admirably.'  
  
He started to open the leather folder he had tucked under his left arm, but the   
commander cut him off.  
  
"Don' t bother opening that," Misato cut him off, "I'm about to hijack what ever agenda   
you had."  
  
"Ah, commander, I really must protest we meet in less than half an hour"  
  
"Whatever," she said actually waving her hand in dismissal.  
  
"I'm going to talk and you are going to listen," she continued, her voice had changed   
form her normal easy going tone. It was even different from the somewhat heated tone   
she'd used earlier. The words were coming more slowly allowing for the weight of   
each one to be felt over the distance between herself and Morris. One of the effects of   
this room that she was becoming more comfortable with was the effect that it had on   
her, particularly her tone of voice. She would occasionally wonder if that was   
something Ikari designed into the room, to not only intimidate the guests but also   
harden the owner.  
  
"Ah, well," he was looking for words, "As you wish Commander." He carefully closed   
the leather folder, taking care to slowly zip it back up. He was stalling, trying to delay   
what he surmised was a whole load unpleasantness headed his way. This wasn't new   
to him, but it had been some time since anyone had dared to interfere with his own   
agenda. He had risen through the ranks of UN observer Corps quickly and he was well   
respected by many of his peers, and even feared by a few. It had been some time since   
he'd encountered any real resistance in the course of carrying out his duties.  
  
"Mr. Morris, I know you've been here for about two weeks now, I apologize that I   
haven't made time for you earlier. Had I done that we'd have had this conversation   
already and would have probably avoided that bit of unpleasantness earlier. Mornings   
are almost never a good time for me." Misato continued.  
  
'That's cause you're a drunk', Morris thought to himself, careful to keep his mien from   
showing any expression what so ever.   
  
"I am the Commander of NERV." She paused, "You are the UN Special Observer for   
the NERV Executive Office. I run NERV. You watch me do it."   
  
Misato paused for a breath, and took a sip of her coffee hoping it looked like a dramatic   
pause. She watched Morris carefully to see if her word were having any effect.  
  
"You may ask me questions, and if I want to I will answer them. If you have a problem   
with that you may contact your direct superior. Counselor James will then send me a   
bottle of Scotch and say something like; 'be nice to the kid Misato, he's not really a bad   
guy.'"  
  
"I have had a UN Observer of some level 10 feet behind me for the last 15 years. I have   
read thoroughly all the Act governing your conduct, and I have read the Terms of   
Reference regarding the Executive Office, in fact I helped to write those terms. I am   
intimately familiar with what you can and cannot do, and what my specific obligations   
to you are." She paused to breath and quick resumed so as not to give him an opening.   
"As I'm sure you are aware there are still three forensic investigation teams wandering   
around the Geofront as we speak. One of them is solely responsible for forensic   
accounting, just trying to figure out where all the money came from to pay for all this."   
She idly waved one hand around over her head. "The point being that there is still stuff   
in this facility that you have not been cleared to see. For that matter there are still   
things in here that have not been given a classification yet. Now you're a young guy,   
you're obviously on the fast track, and this is a pretty high profile assignment. You   
don't need me to tell you that if you do well here you will pretty much be a made man.   
In fact it's not unreasonable to think that in 5 or 10 years you'll be sitting on the   
committee that I report to." Misato stopped again and drained the last little bit of coffee   
from her mug.  
  
'You'll regret this day when that happens'   
  
"And when you are sitting on the committee, and if I'm still here I'll probably regret this   
day. But whatever." Now she really paused to think, wishing she had more coffee.   
  
'Where was I going with this again?' She though to herself.  
  
"mmm"  
  
"Ah, pardon me Commander"  
  
"Sorry, coffee grounds." The cold hard tone of her voice was softening. She silently   
wished she could keep that up. This was probably the reason people though she was a   
bitch, she could only stay cold and hard for so long, so when she couldn't keep it up she   
cut the conversation off. Any time she had to play the bad guy she had to keep it short,   
come in raise hell and run before she burst into tears.  
  
'OK' she thought to herself, lets get this done.  
  
"So any way I know you're nervous 'cause you've been here two weeks and you   
probably haven't got much to report yet. I'd bet you probably just figured out how to   
get here with out getting lost only a day or two ago"  
  
He almost let his expression change, 'is she having me watched? Probably, I would if I   
was her'  
  
"Relax, it took me a while to figure this place out, I keep finding new places and rooms.   
And no I'm not having you followed, I was guessing"  
  
  
At that point he slipped and his eyes opened just a little bit larger, in a very muted look   
of surprise.  
  
"You probably wanted to go through some of the questions the committee is going to   
ask, try and get my answers so you can send off a quick message to show that you're on   
the job here. I felt it fair to warn you that I am probably not going to be much help to   
your career aspirations, but I promise I will do my best not to ruin them either, I may   
even give you a heads up before I do something tremendously stupid."  
  
"So here's how the committee meeting is going to go. They are going to ask about   
releasing some of the class 6 genetic materials for licensing early and they are they are   
going to ask about delaying putting the class 2 material in the public domain. They are   
going to ask about increasing some of the staffing level, particularly in the admin areas.   
They are going to ask about outsourcing some of the prototyping labs, namely robotic   
and structural engineering. They are going to ask about the rail launcher. And the G2   
series."  
  
She stopped, and silently wished she had more coffee.  
  
"Well, am I far off?" she asked looking straight at him  
  
"I think you got all of them, they may also ask about staffing of the Elsmere facility"  
  
"Maybe, it depends on what I tell them about the progress of the rail launcher"  
  
Silence Morris stood there waiting for the commander to continue, but she didn't.   
  
'Does she want me to ask her?'  
  
'Come on, I'm not going to tell you if you don't ask me dumbass' Misato thought to   
herself.  
  
More silence, not even echoes, which in a room this large and this empty is quite   
surprising. It was moments like this the room asserted itself. With a little imagination   
you could almost hear the walls screaming, "Fear me, for I am big and empty." Which   
of course was quite childish, in that rooms like this didn't need to scream at you to get   
their point across. You intuitively knew what the room wanted to tell you the moment   
you walked into it.  
  
Morris finally broke the silence, "Ah, so what are you going to tell the committee?"  
  
"I thought you'd never ask. Well the class 6 genetic material is going to be split in to 6a   
and 6b, some of the genes have some unpredictable interactions with the both class 4   
and class 8 genes. 6a will be released early and 6b will remain classified. The class 2   
material will go to the pubic domain as planned. I will review the staffing levels but no   
promises. The prototyping labs will not be outsourced, but I do have a plan to   
construct prototype labs up on the surface, which will eliminate some of the security   
constraints on staffing and allow the use of term and contract labor. The current   
facilities inside the Geofront will be converted to research facilities for the   
superconductor groups. How that?"  
  
"And the G2 series?"  
  
"The children are fine" her voice changed again indicating that this was not a line of   
questioning he should pursue.  
  
"So," she continued, "I'll do my job, without your help, and I will try very hard not to   
interfere with your job. Are we agreed?"  
  
"Ah, yes that will be satisfactory commander." Morris said, realizing that he really had   
nothing to add or to argue. He also realized that he had pushed a little too much too   
soon, but he promised himself he would find out what he wanted to know, with or   
without Commander Katsuragi's co-operation.  
  
"Great, then I will meet you in the conference room in, "She looked at her watch. It was   
6:52, "five minutes, that should give you plenty of time to get your message out."  
  
  
Misato swiveled in her chair and flicked on the terminal to her right, hoping he'd   
realize that he was dismissed. To make sure he got the message she picked up the   
phone. Morris was a pretty quick guy he figured out it was time for him to leave. He   
also knew that if he hurried he could make it to a terminal to get he message out before   
the meeting started. Without a word he turned on his heel and started the long journey   
to the door.  
  
'God dammit this room is big'  
  
As soon as the door slide shut she touched a button on the phone.  
  
"Julie?"  
  
"Yes Ma'am"  
  
"Call Comms and have them delay all outgoing messages from Mr. Morris 15 minutes."  
  
"Permanently or just the next little while?"  
  
Misato thought to herself, 'devious one this Julie, I like her already'  
  
"Ma'am?"  
  
"Just the next hour is fine, thanks."  
  
"Yes ma'am, anything else?"  
  
"When Mr. Aida gets in have him meet me in the workroom when I'm out of the   
conference."  
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
Misato hit the release key on the phone before Julie could say ma'am again.   
  
  
  
  
+++  
  
  
  
  
About 60 km to the north west of Tokyo-3 was a small village. Village by Japanese   
standards, anyone living in Europe, Asia or America would probably consider it to be a   
small city. The village, well let's call it a town, has in disproportion number of former   
NERV employee's.   
  
The short story is that the UN locked down NERV and as the people retired or quit they   
came here, to this small town in the mountains. Some people called it a prison; some   
people called it a retirement community, either way people that came here tended not   
to leave. Most of the people that lived here didn't care one way or the other.   
  
This town is important because just slightly to the west of it there was a small lake. This   
lake had four cabins on it, one of which was currently occupied by Shinji Ikari.   
  
He was lying in bed. The morning light flooded in through an open window on the   
south wall of the room. A light breeze was breathing life into the normally inanimate   
drapes. The sunlight was entering through the window at such an angle that now   
living curtains were casting a rapid succession of shadows across Shinji's face.  
  
He stirred slightly, obviously approaching wakefulness. He breathed in deeply though   
his nose. He could smell the lake; consciousness was rapidly approaching now. He   
watched the patterns of light play across the insides of his eyelids. The images cast by   
the light took him back to a time in his past when he was Pilot Ikari.   
  
At times he even missed it, the warm safe feelings that he would occasionally feel while   
in the entry plug. Those memories were rare. Most his memories of that time were of   
terror and hopelessness, and the smell of blood.  
  
Soon after the Failure he learned where those feelings of safety had originated. It still   
seemed unbelievable, wishful thinking even, but he knew it was true. At one point   
after learning the truth he used to go down to the cage and talk to Unit-01. He'd sit   
there for hours, particularly after his father was shot. He knew, in his heart, that she   
was listening.  
  
The memories that came flooding back had finally pushed Shinji into full consciousness.  
  
'Well I might as well open my eyes now," he thought to himself.  
  
With almost deliberate slowness Shinji's eyes opened and focused on the ceiling.  
  
'I really should paint soon, that water stain is really starting to bug me.'  
  
He stretched his arms and propped himself up into a sitting position. He turned his   
head to consider the window. The fact that the window was still open amused him   
somewhat. Asuka had a habit of running around at night and closing all the windows.   
He immediately came to the conclusion that there was only one of two possible reasons   
for the window being open. One Asuka had forgotten, which seemed unlikely, or she   
had left it open for the sole purpose of giving her a reason to leave him a nastygram,   
complaining about his childish need to have the window open while he slept.  
  
He looked around the room carefully judging the length of the shadows, trying to judge   
the time. After a moment he gave up and looked at the clock. 7:04.   
  
'Well then time for some tea' he thought to himself.  
  
Shinji had always been a creature of habit, but since he had moved up here to the lake   
some 10 years ago with Asuka and Rei he had really taken habit to new heights. When   
he woke on his own it was invariably within 5 minutes of 7:00 am. The first thing he   
did was put on a robe, wander out into the kitchen and put on a kettle for tea. This   
morning was no different.  
  
As he picked up the robe he gave it a quick sniff.   
  
"I guess I'll do laundry today" he said to himself, then looked around guiltily.   
  
'I really have to watch that, people are going the wonder, me living here by myself   
constantly talking to myself.'  
  
Shinji managed to maneuver his feat into some slippers and made his way to the   
kitchen. With no real regard for his surroundings he went right to the stove, picked up   
the kettle, filled it with water and put it back on the stove. Then the awareness   
returned.   
  
He took a moment to survey the kitchen. It wasn't so much the kitchen as the rest of the   
cottage. It was the kitchen, living room, dining room, and dining room. Something   
Americans liked to call the great room. He'd gotten that from Rei, who for some   
strange reason was still fascinated with American home renovation television shows.   
She always seemed to be repainting something or sewing slip covers for the chairs. She   
seemed to do a lot of things like that.   
  
'Well as long as it keeps her busy, I just wish she'd paint the ceiling in the bedroom.'   
  
The kettle began making that distinctive per boiling noise. The one that sounded like   
ants with little lead soled shoes running around on an aluminum pie plate. That was   
the cue to rinse out the teapot and put in a fresh scoop of tea.  
  
That done Shinji leaned back against the counter and once again looked around the   
room, expecting to see a note form Asuka saying something about the open window.   
There it was on the edge of the counter.  
  
"Shinji,  
  
I hope you noticed that I left the window open for you. NOW YOU OWE ME A   
FAVOR! Don't forget to stretch.  
  
Asuka"  
  
The kettle was boiling. Shinji turned off the stove, picked up the kettle and poured   
water into the teapot in one smooth, practiced motion. He set the kettle down and   
headed back to the bedroom to change into his exercise gear.  
  
Moments later he returned, with an exercise mat tucked under his arm. He went   
directly to the kitchen to collect the teapot and a cup. From there he moved toward the   
front door. As he stepped out he paused and inhaled deeply through his nose. Then he   
waited for the various odors living in the air to make their way to his brain.  
  
The lake had it's own distinctive scent, and it continued to evolve and it's ecosystem   
matured. When he first came here it was essentially a large pond with some coy and a   
couple of plants. Now it was a lake with may different species of fish, frogs, newts,   
birds and an astonishing variety of plants. Apparently there was even talk of   
introducing herons here, now that the seasons were beginning to return. It was   
theoretically late spring, but some said that was merely wishful thinking. A slight drop   
in temperature and a bit of extra rain did not a winter make. But Shinji found it   
astonishing having never seen winter, or anything other than summer ever.   
  
Shinji, Asuka and Rei had asked about traveling some years ago, to go and see the   
world but the UN watchdogs had put an end to that. He could always ask again but   
the three of them had become quite comfortable in their little cottage.  
  
Shinji walked to the corner of the porch with the best view and dropped the mat. He   
gave a nudge with his toe and let it unroll, then carefully stepped out of his slippers and   
sat down on the mat.  
  
As he sipped his tea he looked out over the lake and continued to breath deeply in   
anticipation of his stretching beginning. He always liked having the morning shift; this   
was his favorite time of day, sitting by himself on the porch with his tea watching the   
sun begin its ascent into the sky. He idly wished he could share it with his friends, but   
Rei, while she would sit attentively, he could never be sure she was experiencing the   
same thing he was, and Asuka just wouldn't be able to sit still.  
  
'I wonder if Kouzou would like to go fishing tomorrow,' Shinji though to himself   
finishing off the last bit of tea.   
  
He sat the teacup down beside him and began stretching the still tight muscles in his   
back. Training with Asuka was never without its price.  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Notes to Self and Passers by,  
  
This is obviously the beginning of a multipart story. How many parts I don't know yet.   
I do in fact have a plot line whether or not I can stick to it is another matter altogether.  
  
We are obviously in the future. I have gone from the end of the regular series and I'm   
not using the movies. Why is that, you're asking? Well it is because I've only see the   
moves once and there're not on DVD yet so I can't reference them. As to what has   
happened in the intervening years, you'll have to come back and find out for yourself.   
The next chapter will fill in a lot of history and you'll see some more familiar characters.  
  
Anyhoo, if you have something you absolutely have to tell me I'm gholaboy@yahoo.ca.   
Actually any comments at all would be welcome, so write away to your heart's content.  
  
And finally big, big thanks to Chesed and Weltall Elite for helping me turn the output   
of my horde of typewriting monkeys into what I hope you'll find a palatable narrative.  
  
Later Days,  
  
Ghola Boy 


	2. Chapter Two

The Sins of the Fathers  
  
Chapter Two  
  
I hear the roar of a big machine  
Two worlds and in between  
Hot metal and methedrine  
I hear empire down  
I hear empire down  
  
I hear the roar of a big machine  
Two worlds and in between  
Love lost, fire at will  
Dum-dum bullets and shoot to kill, I hear  
Dive, bombers, and  
Empire down  
Empire down  
  
I hear the sons of the city and dispossessed  
Get down, get undressed  
Get pretty but you and me,  
We got the kingdom, we got the key  
We got the empire, now as then,  
We don't doubt, we don't take direction,  
Lucretia, my reflection, dance the ghost with me  
  
We look hard  
We look through  
We look hard to see for real  
Such things I hear, they don't make sense  
I don't see much evidence  
I don't feel. I don't feel. I don't Feel  
  
Lucretia  
A Slight Case of Over Bombing  
The Sisters of Mercy (1993)  
  
  
Toji Suzahara absently watched as some of his students file in. It was early still   
but this was their first class of the day. That and it had come to his attention that his   
class had become one of the more popular electives despite the fact that it did not count   
towards university admissions. The early students were probably here to make sure   
that they got good seats for the rest of the semester. Toji's attention was however   
focused on the window, specifically on what could be seen on the other side of the   
window. From the third floor classroom he could clearly see the daycare on the other   
side of the campus. The daycare where just moments before he had dropped off his   
daughter Koi.  
  
He looked away from the window to see that of the classes 36 seats, which was   
the maximum allowed by the school board, roughly a quarter were now occupied.   
  
'Not bad,' he thought to himself, 'and a full ten minutes to go before the bell.'   
Toji's class was exceptionally large for this school. But it was final year for the students   
and his class was largely lectures and essays so the extra students weren't too bad. He   
always looked forward to the first day of a new semester, as he knew none of the   
student had heard any of his jokes yet. As the semester wore on he found he had a hard   
time keeping track of what stories he had told and what jokes he had used.   
  
He watched the girl who was obviously the class representative walk in, as   
evidenced by the white armband on her left arm. She went the front left desk, from his   
perspective, by the door and cast a menacing look at its current occupant. The student   
immediately stood up and moved to the desk directly behind.  
  
"I was just saving it for you, Fusae." He heard the student who moved say.  
  
Fusae was dressed in the school uniform reserved for seniors, knee length navy   
blue skirt, white blouse, and a red blazer. She seemed to Toji to be exceptionally tall,   
and then he found himself wondering if one day his own daughter would be class rep   
like her mother.  
  
Toji returned his attention to the window.   
  
In his own mind he thought, 'No chance of that happening if her mother is never   
around.' Toji considered himself lucky, he managed to get away from NERV. Lucky in   
that it seemed to occasionally have a habit of consuming people's whole lives. He loved   
Hikari dearly and wanted her to be successful in her field. Working for NERV allowed   
her access to technologies that other could only dream of, and by all rights she had a   
very bright future, being as young as she was, but still he worried. All he had to do was   
think of Shinji, Asuka and Rei, their lives irrevocably altered, and fear took him.   
  
'You are being melodramatic,' he told himself, 'Kensuke is doing fine, enjoying   
himself even, and Misato is still on top of her game.'   
  
'You worry too much,' he continued to himself.  
  
The class was beginning to fill up. He looked up at the clock, 'five to eight,' he   
noted. He moved t his desk and picked up the class list and proceed to walk over to the   
class rep.  
  
"Fusae, would you be so kind as to call the roll once the bell rings,' he asked.  
  
Fusae blushed slightly, "Of course Sensei."  
  
'Probably confused as to how I knew her name, ' he told himself as he turned and   
walked back to the window. Behind him he could hear nervous twittering and muted   
giggles. After another couple of moments of considering the courtyard that lay below   
the window he moved to the blackboard, which as it happened was green. He picked   
up a piece of chalk and wrote in large letters across the center of the board.  
  
Sensei Toji Suzahara, 703-WH02, Contemporary World History.  
  
The bell rang just as he finished writing. The class rep immediately sprang to her   
feet and she moved in a red blur to the center of the classroom. She began to call the   
attendance. After a couple of minutes when all the students were accounted for she   
handed Toji the attendance sheet, bowed and glided back to her seat.  
  
All eyes were on Toji now, expectant, even eager eyes. They were studying him,   
trying to imagine what kind of teacher he was. Certainly his manner of dress gave   
some indication, that sort of casual professional, many younger teachers favored. His   
rule was that he either wore a tie, or a jacket, but never both. Today it was a dark jacket   
with a white button down shirt and khakis. Toji had some small measure of fame being   
the only Evangelion pilot seen in public since the Failure. In strict terms that wasn't   
quite accurate, there is one picture of Rei Ayanami with Unit-01 in Baikonur during   
what was presumably the sun launch. The UN almost burned the London times Mirror   
to the ground that day after that ran. That however was almost 12 years ago, Toji being   
the only one seen since, by the public anyway.  
  
"Good morning class," Toji introduced himself, "I am, as you are probably all   
aware Toji Suzahara, and this is Contemporary World history. Firstly I wish everyone   
to know that I am aware that this is not a required course for most university programs,   
which however does not mean you will not have to work for your grades. You will also   
along the way learn a great deal about contemporary history. The second point I wish   
to make known is what I mean by contemporary history. In basic terms I mean the last   
fifteen years, so no Second Impact stories."  
  
Everyone in the class immediately began smiling, on occasion in previous classes   
they had actually cheered.  
  
Toji smiled himself, "Unlike many of my co-workers, your other teachers, I pretty   
much have no memories of the Second Impact, and so we will focus on events since   
then."  
  
He stopped to survey the class trying to pick out which students were really   
paying attention. He continued, "I am also happy to announce that there will be no   
tests or exams in this class, there will however be essay assignments roughly every two   
weeks. Additionally there will be two group presentations." He looked over the class   
again, 'that got their attention.' He noted who was smiling and who wasn't, and a   
couple that even frowned.  
  
He turned slightly and slowly made his way over to the window and leaned on   
the sill. "The Essay's will always have a minimum and a maximum word count,   
generally 3000 to 5000 words. The minimum is somewhat flexible, if you can prove   
your point in less than 3000 words, good for you. The maximum will be strictly   
adhered to, at 5000 words I will simply stop reading, if you haven't finished your point   
it will remain unfinished and marked accordingly."  
  
Toji let that one sink in, and watched again to who was making what facial   
expressions. While he'd be hard pressed to admit it, he kind of enjoyed being a hard ass   
when the opportunity presented itself.  
  
"Enough of that though, here's what we'll be covering. Of the time since 2nd   
impact we'll focus roughly two thirds of our time on the post Failure period, the other   
third will be spent examining the events leading up to the Failure," Toji stated. He   
turned to face the class directly. "Quick show of hands, who among you have any   
memories of Instrumentality?" About eight of the students hesitantly put up their   
hands.   
  
Toji pointed to the male student in the back row. "What do you remember?" he   
asked.   
  
The student stood up and looked at his peer hesitantly, then swallowed, "Harada   
Baiko, Sensei. I was only four years old so I'm not sure if I remember, or I've been told I   
remember. But I do have memories of my parents from times before I was born."  
  
Toji smiled as if trying to reassure the young man, "Very good Baiko, please be   
seated."  
  
Baiko sat as he was asked. Toji moved back to the center of the classroom and   
looked at his feet seemingly gathering his thoughts. After a couple of second he looked   
up at the class again.  
  
"It would seem that Mr. Harada managed to hit several interesting points at once   
there. First of all he recognized that memories are strange creatures indeed. After a   
time living in your mind it becomes had to distinguish between, your memories, stories   
that were told to you, and fictions you create yourself that you use to rationalize your   
own behavior. Recognizing that your memories may not be quite as accurate as we all   
might like is important. This of course is why we write things down, and one of the   
main motivators behind language itself." Toji shrugged his shoulders, stretching   
slightly as if he was preparing to spend a long time talking, which he was. He took a   
couple of steps backwards toward the blackboard and glanced over his should to make   
sure he wasn't going to get chalk on himself. Satisfied that the board was chalk free he   
leaned back against it and put his hands in his pockets.  
  
"Memories of your parents lives before you were born is actually quite common   
your age group. It's estimated that it is actually under-reported even for the same   
reasons I just alluded to, namely that most people find it easer to believe that they were   
told about the memories, or saw old videos or photographs. In any case when you   
realize that most people who were caught up in Instrumentality were considerably   
older that yourselves, you can begin to imagine how this has shaped our history since   
then, think for a moment. All humanity united in a single consciousness, memories   
shared, your innermost thought open for anyone to experience. Then after the Failure   
the rug gets torn out from under you, you're alone again, and yet you still carry some   
memories that aren't your own. You could almost hear the collective 'What the? What   
was that about?' People were really confused, and of course angry. One of the most   
interesting things is that people were angry for different reasons, angry, because their   
minds had been invaded, or alternately angry that it ended."  
  
Toji paused to look once again at the faces of his class, trying to read their   
reactions. Aside for the fact he could tell they all seemed to be paying attention he   
could glean no other useful information, after all these were experienced senior   
students who were not going to give away too much on the first day of class.  
  
He continued, "So the UN stepped in and pretty much locked down on   
everything, particularly Tokyo-3 since this was, and still is the headquarters of NERV.   
In the months that followed we saw many interesting things come to light. The   
existence of an organization called SEELE, we learned the truth about Second Impact,   
and we learned a great deal about the organization that is still called NERV."  
  
Toji stood up straight, stepped forward form the board and tool his hand out of   
his pockets.   
  
"This of course brings us to our first essay assignment." Toji paused waiting for   
the groans.  
  
The class let out a sound that collectively sounded somewhat like a pained hiss   
from a very old cat with arthritis that had just been awakened.   
"Relax everyone, it's not that bad." He interrupted the noise. "Only 2000 to 4000   
words. On the origins, goals and motivations of SEELE." The class seemed to be   
acquiesced if only slightly, he continued. "Due in two weeks time, we will be covering   
some of the material in class, but probably not enough to base a whole essay on. I   
suggest you take a look at you reading list." He could now see fingers poking at the   
tough screens and keyboards on the desks. Toji put his hands back in his pockets and   
moved back over to the corner by the window and half sat on the corner of his desk.  
  
He remained silent and watched the looks on his student's faces as they saw the   
reading list. That and what was probably a huge amount of instant messages flying   
around. The reading list, while formidable was not excessive, and certainly not the   
largest in the school that honour belonged to the senior Japanese history class.  
  
"I should probably warn you now, that some of those book are of limited supply   
at the library so you may want to consider ganging up or putting you name in early for   
reservations." Toji advised the class. A couple of student looked up but their heads   
quickly went back down as they tried to identify the rare books on the list.  
  
  
  
  
+++  
  
  
  
  
Misato stepped out of the conference room and paused briefly to take a deep   
breath. Her face was calm but her shoulders were bunched up and the tendons on her   
neck that ran on either side of her throat threatened to snap. She breathed in she forced   
her shoulders down and back and, as she did this she rolled her head from one side to   
the other. Someone watching her might have expected to hear a pop or cracking noise   
as she did this, unfortunately there was no such release, the tension was too deep, and   
this was only a temporary reprieve. She quickly realized that Morris would be right   
behind her so she quickly got herself moving before he could...  
  
"Ah, Misato," Morris spoke from behind her, "Do you have some time to go over   
some of the things that were discussed?"  
  
Misato still had her back to him, which afforded her a little more privacy to let   
her grimace. 'I really don't want to get into this right now.' She thought herself.  
  
She stopped and without turning around replied to his question. "Well right   
now I'm supposed to meet with Mr. Aida. How does an hour and a half before lunch   
tomorrow sound?"  
  
'Ah yes, Mr. Aida, the Commander's personal lapdog,' Morris thought.   
  
"Ah well, 10:30 then?"  
Misato started walking again, "Great, I'll have Julie contact you to confirm."  
  
Morris watched Misato take off down the hallway, the only sound in the corridor   
was the clicking of her heels. He distinctly got the impression that she was in a hurry,   
and would probably even run if her shoes had permitted it.  
  
'Nice can,' he thought to himself. 'She a pretty good-looking woman, age, job   
stress and her chosen lifestyle excepted.'  
  
He continued to stand there, unmoving just watching her. Eventually she   
rounded the corner to where the elevators were. He face changed ever so slightly once   
she was out of view. His mouth changed. His thin lips, which were normally tightly   
closed unless he was speaking, upturned slightly at the corners. There was no chance   
however that a casual observer would mistake this as a regular smile, for it held so   
happiness. There was just a hint of glee, but not the regular Christmas morning   
opening lots of presents glee. This was something altogether more sinister.  
  
'Too bad about that though, it's kind of a waste.' He thought to himself. With   
that he turned on his heel in a well-practiced motion and proceeded down the hallway   
in the opposite direction that Misato went.  
  
  
  
  
  
+++  
  
  
  
  
  
Misato stopped just outside her workroom. She was balanced on one foot and   
struggling with the seam in her nylons that had bunched up around the toes of her left   
foot. She was leaning against the wall and as she brought up her head she could see   
through the slightly open door. The door was only open a couple of inches but she   
could clearly see the back of Kensuke's head. It looked like, from her vantage that he   
was talking to himself.  
  
She suddenly felt guilty for some reason. The she put her shoe back on and   
stood up straight.  
  
"Damn high heels," she cursed. Loud enough to give Kensuke some warning   
that she was coming up behind him.  
  
"Some spy you are." She muttered as she stepped around the chair he sat in and   
crossed the room to her desk. "Sitting with your back to the door. Isn't that the first   
thing they teach you in spook school?" She pitched the folder she was carrying on the   
desk then collapsed into her chair. The chair was a massive leather affair and she   
almost disappeared into it. Misato wriggled around in for a couple of seconds,   
searching for all the comfortable dents and grooves. Satisfied she leaned back, kicked   
her shoes off and put her feet up on the corner of her desk.  
  
"Mmmm, just thinking. Nylons? What the occasion?" Kensuke replied after   
Misato had finished her little sitting down ritual.  
  
"Humph? Oh the nylons." Misato blushed slightly, "I kind of woke up late and   
didn't shave. Trying to hide the stubble."  
  
Kensuke pondered this for a moment, wrinkling his brow in the process. This   
caused his glasses to be pushed slightly down his nose. He was wearing the thin   
rectangular frames today. He had given up the big round frames he had worn   
throughout most of his school years some time ago, and in recent years he'd taken up   
quite an interest in his own appearance. He had found that dressing in a certain way,   
or keeping a certain appearance made some aspects of his job much easer. He had   
shifted forward in his seat as Misato entered, he wasn't really surprised, but he was a   
little off guard. He settled back into his chair and looked at Misato across the desk.  
  
"Won't the stubble ruin the stockings?" He inquired with a mock deep concern   
in his voice.  
  
"Probably, but I only really needed to get through that one meeting. And since   
you brought up my dressing habits, what's with the suit? I think you may be taking   
this whole Men In Black thing a little too seriously." Misato smiled, referencing his   
black suit complete with black turtleneck.   
  
Kensuke sat quietly for a moment composing his response; "It's Johnny Cash   
night at the Karaoke bar after work."  
  
Misato snorted and looked around the room for coffee. She leaned forward and   
gave the stainless steel decanter a shake. It was empty.  
  
"Coffee?" she asked of him.  
  
"Sure." Kensuke replied, "So how was the meeting?"  
  
Misato growled and held up a finger in a gesture for him to wait. She leaned   
back in the chair and looked at the ceiling, obviously deep in thought.  
  
"Julie," she breathed, barely audible since it was only meant for herself to hear.  
  
Her right arm reached out and her fingers played across the keypad of the phone   
on her desk. Eventually her index finger found its quarry and depressed the intercom   
button. She was rewarded with congratulatory tone.  
  
"Ma'am" Julie's disembodied voice entered the room.  
  
"Uh hi, could you get us some more coffee please Julie?" Misato asked, raising   
her voice slightly as she was still studying the ceiling.  
  
Again the disembodied voice was heard, "Yes ma'am, just a couple of minutes."  
  
Misato released the key and sat up slightly and looked back at Kensuke. In the   
course of only a couple of seconds a variety of expression passed across her face.   
Eventually she seemed to decide on an obviously forced smile.  
  
"The meeting was." She paused looking for suitably descriptive words,   
"uneventful, but irksome nonetheless."   
  
"Mmm, then that's not what you wanted to see me about then is it." He replied.   
He sat up in his chair and leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. He face also   
changed, it became a little grimmer, something like a child that is expecting some nasty   
liquid cold medicine. The kind that always tasted bad, no matter how much sugar was   
in it or what flavor it was named; Orange, Raspberry, Field berry, some how they all   
seemed to be made from tastes-like-shit-berry.  
  
Misato looked at him carefully, as if she was considering her words. Finally she   
spoke, "That isn't what I wanted to talk about."  
  
Kensuke reacted immediately; it was as if a great weight had been lifted from   
him, which in his mind was exactly what had happened. He sat up in his chair. He   
held Misato's gaze for a few moments, a couple of seconds longer that one might have   
expected, then he leaned back in his chair and managed to smile. Not a great happy ear   
to ear grin, but a smile nonetheless.  
  
Misato brought her feet down off her desk and scooted the chair forward so her   
body almost toughed the desk. Her feet tucked under the chair she leaned forward on   
her elbows and crossed her arms in front of her. She smiled back at Kensuke.  
  
"It's about our new UN observer, Mr. Morris." She spoke softly but with a tone   
that denoted seriousness.  
  
"Eugene Morris, of course." Kensuke's reply came quickly, "Actually I've   
already started gathering some stuff for just such a request. I can have some stuff to   
you tomorrow if you would like?"  
  
Misato almost laughed out loud. Kensuke had over the years developed this   
usually life-saving habit of anticipating her needs. She thought of it as 'usually' in that   
it was occasionally really irritating having someone knowing what you wanted before   
you did.  
  
Misato reveled for a moment on this. 'Why does it frighten me so much that he   
can read me so easily. Some days it really comforting that he can do that but it still…'   
She shook her head, if they weren't going to talk about it there was no sense in thinking   
about it.  
  
Kensuke watched Misato's emotion play across her face. While normally he   
quite enjoyed trying to anticipate her thoughts, in light of recent events he found that he   
wished he didn't know her quite as well as he did. There were some things he just did   
not want to know.  
  
Misato made a conscious effort to clear her face of expression as she sat up and   
leaned back in her chair. It made that squeaky noise that chairs do when they move   
through a familiar range of motion.   
  
"Great, Tomorrow would be great, first thing in the morning? I'm supposed to   
meet with him at 10:30 so this way I could be prepared." She said.  
  
"No problem." he replied, "By first thing in the morning I'll assume nine-ish   
then, not seven?"  
  
"Duh?" she said with no small amount of sarcasm.  
  
"Right then. So really how was the meeting? What did they ask?" Kensuke   
inquired, this time actually curious not just directing the conversation.  
  
"It was pretty routine stuff. Can I release this for patent early? Can I delay   
release of that to the public domain." She answered with a monotonous tone of voice   
that was supposed to mimic one of the councilors.  
  
Kensuke nodded for her to continue.  
  
She went on, "I told them the level 6 genetic materials would be split into 6a and   
6b, and that 6a would be released for patent, but 6b would be withheld for further   
study."   
  
Kensuke interrupted, "Those are the genes that can rewrite and the remove   
themselves right?"  
  
"Ya I think so, you'd be better off asking Dr, Suzahara. Anyway they're pretty   
spooky and we may yet need them for the G3 virus."  
  
"Really? You're gonna…" Kensuke was having trouble finding the appropriate   
words.  
  
"Shhhh," Misato cut him off with a hushed but very serious tone of voice, "As of   
now only you, I, Hikari, and Maya know of this. It's just an option at this point. I just   
want to hold some thing in reserve in case, you know."  
  
"In case they don't come back." He stated.  
  
"Mmmm" Misato grunted, 'Where was Julie with that damn coffee'  
  
Misato looked as Kensuke, his eyes looked glassy, he was running through   
different scenarios in his head, assimilating this new information. She leaned back in   
her chair and put her feet back up on the desk. She looked at the ceiling.   
  
'Let him chew on that for a couple of minutes, see what he comes up with.' She   
thought back to the time when the angels were still attacking, and Kensuke was much   
younger. 'Hell who am I kidding I was much younger.' He was obsessed with all   
things military and would talk excitedly at great length about any new piece of   
information that he had acquired. She could tell that this late bit of information had   
excited him greatly, but now instead of analyzing it out loud he went into an almost   
trance like state.  
  
Kensuke cleared his throat as if to say 'I'm done now.' Misato who was almost   
sideways to him now raised her right eyebrow, but otherwise did not move at all from   
her ceiling studying position.  
  
Kensuke recognized this and spoke. "The G3 series was never the real purpose   
was it?"  
  
"No." She responded without moving.  
  
Kensuke smiled, 'I was right,' he thought.  
  
Misato was smiling as well, 'I knew he'd get it.'  
  
"This is what you want me to find out about Morris. 'Does the UN suspect?' "   
  
Misato didn't answer, but she didn't need to either. 'I hope he doesn't ask why I   
didn't tell him before,' she thought to herself.  
  
"Did any of the counselors ask about the G2 series?" Kensuke asked.  
  
Misato instantly tensed up, her head snapped up and swiveled to look squarely   
at Kensuke.   
  
Her now harsh tone of voice matched the look on her face, "Yes they did and I   
told them the Second Generation Children are fine."  
  
Kensuke had actually anticipated that reaction to his question, 'damn it, you   
stupid woman why do you do that.' After a moment of thinking he decided to ask her   
himself.  
  
"Misato," he began in as reasonable a tone a voice as he could muster, "Why do   
you insist upon doing that to yourself? They are not children; they are embryos in a vat   
of liquid nitrogen. Hell most of them are not even embryos, they are little clumps of   
undifferentiated stem cells, that's it."   
  
Misato stood up slowly. I look of rage passed quickly over her face, only to be   
replaced a frighteningly cold look. Kensuke had become immune to it's effects but he   
still understood it's meaning.  
  
"What you think I don't know that? Of course they are not children. But I think   
of them as children, because as you so thoughtfully pointed out, it makes it harder. I do   
it on purpose; I want these decisions to be hard. Things like this shouldn't be easy. You   
know as well as I do what happens when you start to treat these things casually." Her   
voice almost cracked, "And well they are children, some of the eggs where mine. I   
know there are hundreds of thousand of eggs down there, a lot of people donated. You   
did, didn't you?" She looked at him for an answer.  
  
He nodded slightly.  
"Well then, has is ever occurred to you that you may have children? Hell for that   
matter we may have children." Misato stopped and turned her back to him. After a   
few seconds she moved two steps over to the window behind her desk. She crossed her   
arms and leaned forward, pressing her forehead against the glass. She let out a slow   
deep sigh.  
  
Kensuke leaned forward in his chair and held his hands in his head. 'I am a   
fucking idiot. This is exactly what you did not want to start, dumbass,' he berated   
himself. 'Nice, now what are you gonna do Mr. Wizard?' He lifted his head slightly   
and peered up at Misato who was still pressed against the glass.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry I didn't mean to…" Kensuke started off in a whisper, "Well you   
know…" He buried his face in his hands again.   
  
Again in a whisper he spoke, "it just hurts me to see you like this," Partially to   
her but mostly to himself.  
  
He could hear Misato draw in a deep breath.  
  
"Does it hurt more than seeing me being all drunk and on my knees begging for   
it?" She asked in voice that was barely audible.  
  
Kensuke immediately tensed up, and drew breath. He was about to speak when   
there was a knock at the door.  
  
"Yes." They both said in unison, with no small measure of irritation in their   
voices.  
  
Julie's voice came from the other side of the closed door, "Coffee ma'am."  
  
Kensuke almost leaped out of his seat and headed to the door. It was obvious   
that he was looking for any kind of reprieve from where his conversation with Misato   
seemed to be heading. He tried to clear his face of the mixture of hurt and confusion it   
displayed, and then opened the door.  
  
"Woo hoo, coffee, thanks Julie. Misato your coffee is here, " He said is his best   
attempt at casual cheeriness.  
  
Julie just stared at him over the tray she was holding. It was obvious to her that   
she had interrupted something, and she was fairly certain that she did not what to   
know what it was. She could see Misato over Kensuke's shoulder; she was standing in   
front of the window with her back to her. She looked like she was rubbing her eyes.   
  
Misato cleared her throat, but it wasn't in that 'I have a cold' or 'I breathed in   
some dust' kind of way. It was that distinctive 'I'm about to cry but I can't right now'   
kind of throat clearing noise. Julie's eye's widened in surprise and after a moment   
narrowed and looked directly at Kensuke.  
  
Kensuke had also recognized the noise that Misato had just made for what it   
was. He looked up from the tray that Julie carried and looked at her. He knew that   
they'd been busted and simply shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'help.'  
  
Julie took a step forward while continuing to glare at Kensuke. He responded by   
stepping back and slightly to the side. She set the tray with the coffee and related   
implements an accessories down on the end of Misato's desk. Without a word she   
poured a cup and began to cream and sugar it for Misato.   
  
Kensuke was still standing at the doorway looking out into the reception area.   
Misato continued to face the window with her arms crossed.  
  
After she'd finished with Misato's cup she reached across the desk to place as   
close to Misato as she could without moving herself.  
  
"Ma'am?"  
  
Misato tuned sideways, her back still to Julie and reached out for the cup. As she   
reached out she turned her head slightly to correct her aim, and Julie go a look at her   
profile. Her eyes were indeed puffy and red. Julie coughed quietly, but it was just   
enough of Misato to turn her head and look at Julie over her shoulder. Julie quickly   
raised her eyebrows in a 'Are you ok?' gesture.  
  
"I'm fine, thanks." Misato said slowly, "Ken. Whadda want in your coffee?"  
  
"Mmmm, uh, double double please," he replied almost automatically, still lost   
some where in his own mind.  
  
Julie went through the process of pouring, creaming and sugaring again. Misato   
sat down in her chair and leaned back slightly while cradling her cup in both hands. A   
couple strands of hair had fallen down over her face; she idly tucked them behind her   
ear.  
  
"I'm sorry Julie. You obviously caught us at a bad moment," Misato said, she   
had returned to her normal tone of voice.  
  
Kensuke's head swiveled around to look at Misato, and then Julie. His   
expression was slowly returning to its usual happy/blank expression. After a moment   
his head turned back to look out upon the hallway again. Apparently he was not quite   
up to rejoining the conversation just yet.  
  
"Umm Sub-Commander Ibuki called from the airfield, they've just landed. She   
asked me to ask you if you and Dr. Suzahara could meet for lunch." Julie said as she   
was carefully arraigning the items on the tray. She was a bit nervous, but seemed torn   
as to whether she should leave as quickly as possible, or whether she was need to stay   
and run interference, and help to keep the peace so to speak.   
  
Misato swallowed the mouthful of coffee she'd just taken in and replied, "Hey   
that sounds good. Kensuke would you like to join us?"  
  
Kensuke's head rose, he had been looking at his feet, or perhaps the floor in front   
of his feet it was hard to tell since he had his back to the two women.   
  
His voice was clear of any distress now as he spoke, "Sure, perhaps I'll go find   
Hikari now then. We can continue this later Commander?"  
  
"Julie can call Hikari." Misato replied in a tone of voice that indicated that they   
were not finished.  
  
"Of course," Kensuke said as he reached out to take the cup that Julie was   
handing him, "Thanks Julie."  
  
Julie took that to mean she should leave.  
  
"I'll go call Dr. Suzahara now then ma'am." Julie said in half questioning tone.  
  
"Yes please." Misato said looking up at Julie while flashing her a reassuring   
smile.  
  
Julie nodded and headed towards the door, taking time to glare at Kensuke for a   
moment.   
  
After the door closed, Kensuke sat back down and stared at his coffee. Alone   
with each other again neither one of them knew how to resume their conversation.   
After a couple of tense moments of silence Kensuke sighed and sat up.  
  
"Listen," he said, "I sorry. I'm sorry about the other night and I'm sorry about   
just now."  
  
Misato set down her cup and leaned forward resting her elbows on the desk. She   
paused and rubbed her face.  
  
"Don't," She replied, in a soft voice, "Don't be sorry. It's my fault. I'm the one   
that should be apologizing." She looked up at him but he was still looking at his cup.   
  
'Dammit look at me,' she thought to herself. "I was the one who came on to you.   
I should know better, I mean we tried this before even. I'm too fucked in the head to   
have a relationship, and you have to much self-respect to be treated like a toy."   
  
She sighed as she drew breath, "I'm a bad person, and I was trying to use you."  
  
Kensuke looked up, "Fuck you Misato, don't give me that I'm a bad person shit.   
Oooohh I acted human for a few minutes."  
  
Misato recoiled visibly at his remark. She was about to speak but he cut her off.  
  
"Come on, you are not a bad person, I said no 'cause I knew that wasn't what   
you wanted. Or at the very least not how you wanted it to happen. I just want you to   
be happy and that would not have made you happy and you know it." He swallowed   
and looked at her. There eyes met, 'please don't start crying,' he thought to himself.  
  
"I," she started, searching for words, "I mean we, what would people say? I   
can't, we can't."   
  
"You can't or you don't want to?" he asked, in almost a whisper.  
  
"Can't." She said simply. She stood up again and turned to face the window.   
She clasped her hands behind her back and stretched forcing her shoulders to relax   
slightly.   
  
"Why, half of NERV already thinks I'm railing you. Besides I really the only   
male you really keep company with. Shinji doesn't count, given his current habit of   
wearing dresses." He smiled after his last statement.  
  
Misato let out a small giggle, "That's not funny!"  
  
"Yes it is." Kensuke quickly replied still smiling.  
  
"Well ok it is, but it's not his fault, and besides he's not here to defend himself."   
Misato said smiling now although Kensuke couldn't see it. She took a half step back   
and sat on the edge of her desk, still facing away from him.  
  
"True. Anyway forget about the other night, it's done. But just think about," He   
stopped trying to find the right words, "whether it's can't or won't. Ok?"  
  
Misato tilted leaned back and stretched her arms out behind her. Eventually her   
hand came to rest on the desk behind her propping her up. She tilted her head back   
and took a deep breath in through her nose.  
  
"Alright." She said simply.  
  
  
  
  
+++  
  
  
  
  
  
Rei sat up in her chair. She looked around the room carefully with an expression   
that said 'I was napping and just woke up.' Indeed in the year since the failure Rei had   
learned many facial expressions. She leaned back in the chair and relaxed now that she   
had oriented herself to her surroundings. Waking up like that in a chair in the middle   
of the day was something that she thought she'd never get used to. Waking up   
gradually in bed in the morning was one thing, but that moment of 'where am I?' in the   
middle of the day threw her every time.   
  
'It is a small thing to complain about,' she silently chided herself, as she rose   
from her chair. After standing she looked down at herself as if to see what she was   
wearing. As it happened she was wearing a brightly coloured knee length batik print   
skirt with stylized fish skeletons on it, and white sleeveless shirt. She smiled and   
nodded to herself, she always liked it when Shinji had mornings since she didn't like   
most of Asuka's clothes. Satisfied she walked across the room to the kitchen of their   
little shared cottage and looked in the fridge to see what Shinji had left her for lunch.  
  
After they had moved here Shinji had immediately taken over all the cooking   
and cleaning duties. Initially Rei thought this was rather odd until it was pointed out to   
her that she had nothing to do and was probably bored, while Shinji always had plenty   
to do. Asuka of course was still quite sick at this point and spent a lot of her time in bed   
crying.  
  
Actually it was Misato who noticed that Rei was bored, since Rei had never   
really thought about it.   
  
"Rei," Misato said one day long ago when she was up visiting. "You look bored,   
you need a hobby. Why don't you fix the place up a bit, maybe a coat of paint, some   
new trim perhaps?"  
  
Little did Misato realize that she had actually had a significant impact on Rei's   
life that day. It was just a casual comment, and Rei knew that, but she ran with it   
anyway. One thing she had learned over that last couple year was that all the Eva pilots   
tended to be a bit obsessive about things.  
  
Rei opened the fridge and squatted down so she could peer into the furthest   
reaches of the bottom shelf. She could see that Shinji had left her some noodles and a   
salad. She grabbed both, stood up and closed the fridge door with her foot. The bowl   
of noodles found itself in the microwave in seconds. The salad was already being eaten.   
Rei was leaning against he counter in front of the sink salad bowl in one hand,   
chopsticks in the other already eating.  
  
She looked around the kitchen to see if either of her roommates had left her a   
note. After a couple of second she found the note Asuka had left for Shinji.  
  
'I still fail to understand the nature of this ongoing conflict over the window.' Rei   
thought to herself.  
  
The microware indicated that is was finished irradiating her lunch with a cheery   
bleep. Rei opened the door and removed her noodles. She took both bowls over to the   
kitchen table and set them down. She stood there for a moment looking at the bowls,   
her eyes not really focused. Her eyes wandered across the table, then she looked up   
and turned slowly in a circle. From her position she could see almost the entire cabin,   
halfway through her rotation she saw what she was looking for.  
  
She passed back through the kitchen to the chair she awoke in. On the side table   
was a small stack of books, she tilted her head so she could read the titles on the spines   
of the books. After a second of hesitation she took the send book in the pile and   
returned to the table and sat down. Sitting at the table she opened the book, "Building   
your own Fieldstone Fireplace" and rested her left elbow on it and continued to eat using   
her right hand.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``  
  
  
Notes to Self and Passers By:  
  
Wow I actually got a second chapter out.   
  
Much thank to Chesed and Weltall Elite for pre-reading and sorting me out.  
  
It's starting to look like I'll be setting in to the 6000 to 8000 words range per installment.   
Just enough to make it readable, but short enough I can hold it in my head and   
concentrate.  
  
I would like to point out that Toji is going to be a regular. Since 15 years have passed   
since the Failure (that's what I'm calling 3I) a lot of stuff has happened. By making Toji   
a teacher it allows me to fill in the gaps without boring you to tears by writing a history   
textbook.  
  
Next chapter we'll see what Asuka's doing as well as some other older characters. After   
that the set up will be pretty much done and the real weirdness will begin.  
  
Comments and Criticisms are always welcome, actually more that that I'm begging you   
please tell me what you think.  
  
Later Days  
  
Ghola 


	3. Chapter Three

When routine bites hard  
And ambitions are low  
And the resentment rides high  
But emotions won't grow  
And we're changing our ways  
Taking different roads  
  
Then love, love will tear us apart again  
  
Why is the bedroom so cold  
Turned away on your side?  
Is my timing that flawed  
Are my feelings so dry?  
Yet there's still this appeal  
That we've kept through our lives  
  
Love, love will tear up apart again  
  
Need to cry out in you sleep  
All my feelings expose?  
Yet there's a taste in my mouth  
As desperation takes hold  
Yeah that something so good  
Just can't function no more?  
  
But love, love will tear up apart again.  
  
Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division.  
  
It was late in the day as Kensuke approached the apartment building. Not quite dusk, it was probably an hour to sunset, but the shadows were getting really long. He was approaching from the east so he was well within the shadow cast by the massive concrete monolith. Tokyo-3 may be a new city full of modern convenience, but some of the buildings were just plain ugly, warehouses for people. Kensuke occasionally amused himself by giving buildings that he disliked by giving them his own names him his own names, this particular building he occasionally referred to as 'the Warrens'. He pulled into a parking space that was identified as belonging to Visitor.  
  
The door chime sounded. Toji scooped up the wriggling little creature that lay on the changing table before him and made his way to the door.  
  
"Ya?" he inquired of the device mounted on the wall beside the door.  
  
"It's Ken, Whatcha doing?" Kensuke's voice was emitted from the plastic grill of the intercom.  
  
Toji suddenly dodged his head to the right to avoid a drool-covered finger that was attempting to plant itself in his left eye. Following that he shifted his burden to his right arm and used his left to unlock and open the door.  
  
"Hey buddy, come on in," Toji said as he turned and readjusted the now squealing bundle of joy.   
  
"I was just putting Koi down for the night. Why don't you grab some beers out of the fridge and I'll meet you on the balcony in a couple of minutes."  
  
Toji had moved out of the hallway and into the main living area to allow Kensuke room to get in and close the door. Koi managed to wriggle around so that she too was facing Kensuke.  
  
"Say hello to Uncle Ken now Koi," Toji prompted his daughter.  
  
Koi emitted more high-pitched squealing.  
  
Kensuke having closed the door turned and looked at Koi. After a second or two he stood up straight and leaned back slightly. He raised one eyebrow for dramatic effect and in his best over dramatized 1960's spy voice spoke.  
  
"Hello Koi," as if he was addressing his arch-nemesis.  
  
Koi immediately responded with more squealing and clapping even.  
  
Toji chuckled to himself as he started edging off towards the baby's room.  
  
"I'll meet you outside then?" Kensuke confirmed.  
  
"Yup, gimmie a couple of minutes," Toji's replied.  
  
Kensuke turned to his right and headed onto the kitchen. Looked around briefly then opened the fridge. He reached in a grabbed two cans of beer then stood up and let the fridge door swing shut on under its own weight. The cans immediately began to sweat, the humidity in the small apartment being what it was. He shifted one of the cans to his other hand and made his way to the balcony.  
  
He sat down in one of the chairs and looked out over the west end of the city. The setting sun painted to roofs of the buildings red. The sunsets weren't as red as he remembered from his childhood; mind you there was still a lot of dust in the air from the Second Impact. Say what you will but the particulates did make for some spectacular sunsets. After a couple of moments the screen door sliding open interrupted his thoughts.  
  
"So how ya been?" Toji asked as he stepped out onto the balcony.  
  
"Not too bad, kind of a weird day at work though," Kensuke replied still fixated on the view.  
  
Toji picked up the can of beer off the table that sat between the two chairs and replaced it with the baby monitor, through which they could both hear a sleepy sounding gurgling.  
  
Toji popped the tab on his can and held it out at Kensuke.  
  
"Cheers," he said.  
  
Kensuke sat up and tapped his can against Toji's.  
  
"Cheers," Kensuke replied.  
  
They took generous mouthfuls from their cans. Kensuke slouched back in his chair, then promptly set down his can and stood up.   
  
Toji took a step to the end of the balcony and turned to face the apartment, leaning against the railing.  
  
"Just come from work?" Toji asked.  
  
"Mmm," Kensuke returned as he took off his suit jacket and sat back down, "Hikari working late again?"  
  
"Ya, saving the world from E. Coli again."  
  
Kensuke looked up a Toji with a slightly puzzled expression.  
  
"No that's not what she tells me," Toji continued, anticipating Kensuske's question. "I know exactly what she does."  
  
Toji winced slightly, knowing he probably shouldn't have said that.  
  
"Really?" Kensuke smiled and raised his eyebrow. "So how much do you know?"  
  
"Dammit you know I didn't mean to say that. Don't get her in trouble now dumbass," Toji said quickly.  
  
Kensuke smiled again, "Relax what ever she tells you in bed is none of my business. Serious though, and without being specific, how much do you know?"  
  
"Probably more than you do." Toji smiled as he spoke, "Now cut it out with your 'advanced' interrogation tricks."  
  
Kensuke face turned to a thoughtful look; he realized that with a little prodding in the right directions he could probably get Toji to tell him all that he knew. However Toji knew that as well and was basically just asked him not to.   
  
Instead of speaking Kensuke just looked up at his friend, who was still standing, and nodded. He then looked back out over the city. The sun was sinking rapidly now. That perception of acceleration as the sun got nearer the horizon was in full effect. In another couple of minutes they would loose the sun entirely as even now its edge was almost touching the ridges of the mountains to the west of the city.  
  
"Any plans for the weekend yet?" Toji asked, obviously changing the subject.  
  
Kensuke grunted and after a moment spoke, "Not yet. You?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
They sat in silence as good friends who understand each other are wont to do.  
  
"I was thinking about Shinji this morning. We should head up to the cabin and go fishing. We haven't seen him in a while, well any of them actually." Kensuke said breaking the silence.  
  
Toji's face brightened momentarily then relaxed, "That'd be cool but it's hard to predict Hikari's schedule, Koi and all. May we could get him to come into the city. They haven't done that in a while either," Toji replied.  
  
Toji chose this moment to move away from the railing and take a seat on the other side of the table from Kensuke. The both looked out over the city as the sun slow sank.  
  
Kensuke returned, "Well I don't know. Remember what happened last time they came in and we all went out?"  
  
Kensuke waited and smiled wondering how long it would take until Toji would remembered the event he was thinking about.  
  
Toji laughed suddenly. He tipped up his can and swallowed the last couple of drops.   
  
"Want another?" he asked.  
  
Kensuke grunted in affirmation. Toji drew open the screen door and stepped into the apartment.  
  
"Listen to the… thing there." Toji said pointing at the remote speaker for the baby monitor.  
  
"I am totally in control. Fear not." Kensuke said in a slightly mocking tone.  
  
Toji closed the door after him and shook his head while rolling his eyes. Kensuke caught a glimpse of this and smiled. He then looked at the table to his left; the baby monitor was emitting a quite static that was occasionally punctuated by a little gurgle. Koi was obviously asleep now.  
  
'I wonder if I'll ever have children,' he though to himself.  
  
The screen door slide open again and Toji stepped back through. After he was seated again he handed a new can over to Kensuke.  
  
"That was pretty funny that last time we all went out." Toji began, "When Shinji tried to hit on Maya."  
  
Kensuke laughed, "That was pretty funny. Maya was so drunk she wasn't sure who it was. She was so mad the next day, though you weren't around for that."  
  
+++  
  
It was almost dusk as Asuka pedaled up to the cottage. She rode right up to the porch stairs before she dismounted. She stood beside her bike facing the steps and frowned slightly. Slowly she turned her head to look over her right shoulder. All she saw was the lake, misting slightly as the air cooled.  
  
"Figures," she breathed to herself.  
  
She shook her head then adjusted the pack she had slung across her back bringing it around to her front so the pedal wouldn't catch. With almost no effort at all since it was almost completely titanium, she picked up the bike and set the cross bar on her right shoulder and walked up onto the porch. She walked to the far end where there was a cable lock threaded though a bracket on the wall. She manoeuvred the front wheel of the bike into the bracket and the let the bike hang free. After locking the bike up she slipped her pack off and headed to the door.   
  
One inside she casually pitched the pack onto the chair just inside the door. She placed her hands on her hips, arched her back and let out a slow sigh.   
  
"That was almost a complete waste of time, she said aloud as if there were others around to hear her. "Stupid new kids, thinking they're all that. Just 'cause I'm 28 doesn't make me old and it certainly doesn't mean I can't Aikido your ass into the carpet."  
  
She took a slow deep breath and consciously tried to remove the look of frustration from her face. She then kicked off her shoes and walked over to the kitchen. She glanced at the phone, then the terminal to see if there were any messages. Seeing that there were none she sighed and leaned back against the counter. After a couple of minutes of staring blankly out the window she cast a glance over towards the bathroom. Having obviously decided on a course of action she un-tucked her t-shirt and pulled it over her head. She then bent at the waist and reached over to open the fridge beside her and pull out a bottle of water. She let the shirt drop to the floor as she hopped up and sat on the edge of the counter. She opened the bottle and drank deeply in an effort to replenish some of the fluids she's sweated out.   
  
She squiggled back on the counter and drew up her knees to her chest and hugged them. The bottle of water hung loosely from its neck in her left hand. She was staring out the window overlooking the lake. With her right hand she reached up to brush some sweat slicked hair off her forehead.   
  
She sat up straight and took another long drink from the water bottle. Once the bottle was pressed to her lips she began to frown. Her right arm reached over the same shoulder looking for the offending itchy spot.   
  
"Stupid itchy spandex shit…." She muttered to herself as she set down the water.  
  
She now used her free left hand, having set down the bottle, to press down on her right elbow. She really hoped she get that extra bit of reach that would allow her to make contact with the itch.  
  
"Arrgh, stupid bra! Obviously something invented by a man…" she continued to curse under her breath.  
  
Presently she gave up on attacking the itch directly. In a series of motions that could in no way be described a graceful, she managed to pull the black sports bra over her head and hurled it across the room. It sailed over the counter opposite her and landed on the edge of the dining room table. She brushed her hair back off her face and hugged her knee's again.  
  
"Stupid kid. I'm so not old," she told herself.  
  
She continued to stare out the window.  
  
After several moments of silent breathing she whispered. "It's not fair, I don't want to be old. I never even got a chance to be young."  
  
She yawned and stretched out her arms. Asuka picked up the bottle of water once again and hopped down off the counter and made her way to the bathroom and the shower.  
  
She stepped out of the bathroom through the door onto the bedroom. She was still towelling off the droplets of water that remained from the shower. She finished drying off her body then took the towel and wrapped it around her head. Standing naked in front of the closet she considered what to put on. Eventually she decided and reached into the closet and drew out a pair of red silk Chinese pyjamas.   
  
She could seldom wear red anymore, at least not outside around other people. The effect on others tended to be… unsettling. Which was too bad since it was her favourite colour. In the privacy of her own home however she could wear whatever she wanted. Besides, wearing these pyjamas always seemed to cheer her up. Shinji had given them to her for her birthday a couple of years ago. Her and Shinji's birthday always tended to be big events, since between the three of them they only had two birthdays.   
  
Once she had dressed herself she put the hanger back on the rung in the closet and turned around to consider the matter of the window.  
  
"Sorry Shinji it's too hot today. I'm gonna turn the A/C back on," she said as if there was someone in the other room to hear her.  
  
She walked around the bed and closed the window. She paused then and stared vacantly through it. She shook her head briefly the walked out of the room. She went directly to the controls mounted on the wall in the kitchen that controlled the air-conditioning system. She fiddles with the buttons and was in short order rewarded with an authoritative click. She smiled and cocked her head to the side and waited. She could hear the fan kick in the crawlspace beneath her feet.  
  
Asuka walked into the living room and grabbed a cushion off the couch and tossed it on the floor in front of the display panel. She walked over to the screen and sat down cross-legged on the cushion. Leaning forward she reached into the shelves under the screen and withdrew a keyboard and mouse.  
  
Asuka smiled, she always got a little pang of guilty satisfaction whenever she used the wireless keyboard, which was of course strictly prohibited. NERV security had issues with any wireless device that could be listened in on.  
  
'As if there's someone outside logging my keystrokes,' Asuka thought to herself.  
  
She sat the keyboard on her lap and touched the power button. The screen in front of her flickered and she was greeted with a message stating that the device was resuming for hibernation. Once the screen was back to normal she navigated through a couple of menus and launched her game.  
  
It was an online Role Playing Game, she wasn't particularly fond of it, but considering all the paperwork and hoops she had to go through with those stupid twits in NERV Security to get permission she wasn't about to try a different game. Once into the game she spent a few moments running though her inventory, orienting herself as to what she'd been doing when she was last online. It had to have been two or three week since she'd played last so she checked her messages box for important messages. Nothing of any interest, just the usual assortment of requests to join parties, challenges, and requests for a picture of what she looked like.   
  
Sufficiently oriented she went to a shop in the village, sold off some loot and bought some supplies. Now ready for action she moved off to the countryside looking for stuff to kill.  
  
"Hmmmm," she said to herself. "Killing stuff and saving stupid AI villagers always cheers me up."  
  
Bink!  
  
A saccharine sweet tone announced to her that there was someone who wanted to chat. She frowned and clicked on the happy smiley hoping it wasn't some fanboy looking for a date.  
  
se7enAngel Hey! Where you been?   
  
RedDevil++ Hey yourself J been a little busy in RL. Just stuff. Haven't felt like playing for a while.  
  
se7enAngel 's cool. It's nice to have a real life once in a while.  
  
RedDevil++ So what'd I miss?  
  
se7enAngel In here? SFA. I don't know why I still play, there's so many better worlds out there. But …….. Anyway in RL I think I'm gonna move in with my man. J J J  
  
RedDevil++ :O Really? Wow. That's a big step.   
  
RedDevil++ Are you sure?  
  
se7enAngel Yes it is. And yes I am. We've actually been talking about it for a couple of months now.  
  
RedDevil++ So your place , his place or new?  
  
se7enAngel New. His place sux!! LJ  
  
RedDevil++ LOL  
  
se7enAngel And mine is too small. Hey what about your man? Any progress ;)  
  
RedDevil++ Not really. And he's NOT My man! :/  
  
se7enAngel J Chill honey, just askn.  
  
RedDevil++ Mmmm sorry bad day. I just logged in 'cause I wanted to kill some stuff.  
  
se7enAngel Cool if you don't want to talk that's okay.  
  
RedDevil++ no no, it's ok. It's just complicated with us, ya know.  
  
se7enAngel Complicated how? You love him don't you?  
  
RedDevil++ Well ya but….  
  
se7enAngel But what? Does he know? Have you told him?  
  
RedDevil++ He knows  
  
se7enAngel But have you told him  
  
RedDevil++ I don't need to, he knows  
  
se7enAngel Whatever  
  
se7enAngel I think you need to tell him. He need to hear if from you to be real.  
  
se7enAngel Does he love you?  
  
RedDevil++ ………………Ya  
  
se7enAngel Has HE told YOU?  
  
RedDevil++ mmm well no, not really. I mean I know he does, just the things he does and stuff.  
  
se7enAngel see where I'm with this?  
  
RedDevil++ ya but it's complicated. L  
  
se7enAngel how   
  
RedDevil++ There's another person involved  
  
se7enAngel What? You idiot!!!! L   
  
se7enAngel You never told me he was seeing someone else. I never would have encouraged you. Tell me he's not married!  
  
RedDevil++ No it's not like that at all!!!!! It's a friend of both of ours, she's well………… important to both of us and if we…… well it could be bad. L L  
  
se7enAngel Oh ok. You scared me there.  
  
RedDevil++ Sorry J  
  
se7enAngel Is she a good friend?  
  
RedDevil++ ya  
  
se7enAngel Well if she's a good friend she'll understand. You're all adults.  
  
RedDevil++, she's the one I told you about before, kinda strange. Helped me a lot when I was….sick.   
  
RedDevil++ Mmmm I don't know. If it bombed it could be REALLY bad.  
  
se7enAngel Trust me.  
  
se7enAngel And you have to tell him.   
  
Se7enAngelI mean how long have you been agonizing over this? It's been at least a year you been chatting w/ me  
  
RedDevil++ Argghh would you stop being right please.  
  
RedDevil++ Longer than that actually  
  
se7enAngel Think of it this way. If you spend as much time with him as you say, by not telling him you are essentially lying to him, and her (your friend), and yourself.  
  
RedDevil++ eeep! L I never though of it that way. And I do spend a lot of time with him, we're quite literally inseparable. But I don't see how I'm really lying to him, I just not telling him.  
  
se7enAngel Whatever. You know what I mean, and for something this important it counts as lying.  
  
se7enAngel J listen I gotta go, ma honey's home.  
  
RedDevil++ K later J  
  
se7enAngel Listen come around more often K? and TELL HIM!  
  
RedDevil++ Mmmmmm  
  
Asuka closed the chat window and sighed. She pushed the keyboard off her lap onto the floor in front of her and cradled her head in her hands, her elbow resting on the sides of her knees.   
  
"Arrgh!" she yelled as another tone sounded.  
  
Without even looking at who it may be she grabbed the mouse and clicked on the 'refuse connection' button and changed her settings to 'unavailable'. She returned to her contemplative position. Her shoulders shuddered slightly. After a couple of minutes she sat up and ripped the towel off her head and threw it at the display. Her hands moved up and she pushed her fingers though her hair.  
  
"God I hate it when she's right," she said aloud.  
  
Asuka stretched out and leaned back on her elbows and looked intently at the ceiling. She was thinking about Seven. She'd met her shortly after she'd started playing about a year and a half ago. Initially Asuka had pretty much ignored everyone online, but at the urging of her doctor she had eventually relented and ended trying to make friends. It had actually been a bit of a trade off. One of the things Asuka had pretty much been forced to do as part of her therapy was to keep a journal. Her doctors had told her she need to talk to someone, and since she really didn't have anyone to talk to they made her keep a journal.  
  
Asuka hated the journal. She used to write in it daily, as Shinji or Rei would ride her if she didn't, but she never really liked doing it. The thought of a permanent record of her thoughts didn't sit well with her. In any case she had successfully traded writing in the journal for 'making friends' online.   
  
Asuka was well aware what her doctors were doing to her, or for her, depending on your point of view. She really did want to stay, 'ok', but it was really hard sometimes. The level of effort that was required to just going through the motions of daily life occasionally stretched her limits. Although it wasn't as bad now at it once was.  
  
It had taken a long time and a lot of effort to get where she was now, and not just effort on her part either. Shinji and Rei had constantly been with her, trying to help in any way that they could. Initially she'd refused them utterly and completely. After all she certainly didn't need any help. Eventually Asuka had come to see that she did need help, yet even then she had been suspicious. Why did they want to help? Unbidden acts of kindness and selflessness were alien concepts to her in the beginning, as she had no internal frame of reference in which to consider their actions. Especially not after she'd treated them the way that she had.  
  
She had eventually come to understand their actions, and more important the motivations behind them. Rei in particular had surprised her greatly. Asuka had always thought of Rei as a bit of a freak. This characterization had been based on her obviously skewed point of view at the time. Rei's total dedication to the task at hand, and what appeared to be her complete ignorance of things happening around her. Asuka had eventually come to admire, grudgingly thought, Rei's dedication and ability to place the well being of others before her own. That and the simple fact that Rei never did or said anything by accident. Her every action or word was carefully considered beforehand. This confused Asuka greatly since she had been privy to Rei's internal thought process.  
  
"Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep," the display sounded.  
  
Asuka moved her gaze from the ceiling downwards slightly irritated and a little confused. She then realized that she let her leg rest atop the keyboard, which was now complaining about the random input it was receiving. She leaned back further and lifted her legs, then swept one foot sideways sending the confused keyboard on a journey to the other side of the living room. Her eyes returned to their resting place on the ceiling.  
  
An indeterminate amount of time passed and she sat up. She grabbed the mouse and started an offline message for Seven. Without moving from the position he was in she leaned to her right and stretched out to grasp the keyboard. Successful in her endeavour she returned to her previously attentive position with the keyboard on her lap.  
  
She wrote:  
  
"Hey,  
  
Congratulations again on your moving in with your honey. Sorry if I seemed a little off, I really did have a bad day.   
  
On the topic of my seriously messed up life, I guess you are right. Not that that should be surprising. I will tell him. I don't know how or when, but I will. I probably won't do it soon thought. In fact I kinda want to discuss it with the 3rd friend. I you think this is a really bad idea let me know.  
  
On a completely different matter, do you ever get the feeling that something really bad is about to happen? Nothing specific just something unsettling. I'm probably imagining things but since I tell you everything else I thought I'd ask.   
  
The last couple of days I've been really on edge, constantly looking over my shoulder and stuff. I'm not sure if this is because of my 'bad mood' or if my 'bad mood' is causing it. Anyway it's weird.  
  
I will try and get online more often, promise.  
  
RedDevil++  
  
Asuka hit the send button without reviewing what she'd read for fear that she might not send it. She tapped the power key and tucked the keyboard and mouse back under the panel. She considered the blank screen for a moment then got up and headed for bed.  
  
"Stupid air conditioner better be working." She grumbled as walked toward the bedroom.  
  
+++  
  
Misato dropped her keys just as the door to her apartment swung open. She just looked down and glared at them, as if she was expecting an apology. Sensing that there would be none she shifted the bag of take out into her left hand that was also holding her briefcase and bent at the knees and scooped up the keys.  
  
She walked into the apartment and kicked the door shut with an obviously well practiced motion. A couple more steps down the hallway and she was within in range of the dining room table. The keys were suddenly airborne following a ballistic arc that would place the right in the centre of the table. The keys hit the surface with the expected metal clattering noise and slid for a couple of centimetres until they hit the stack of paper, which impeded and further motion.  
  
She looked at the table, and then looked at the coffee table in front of the television. She kept walking through the dining room and around the couch. She set the bag of Chinese Take-Out on the table tonight was General Dao's Chicken night. She bent over and hit the power button on the remote and the television immediately flickered to life. She watched absently as she removed her jacket and kicked off her shoes.  
  
She moved off towards her bedroom to change. Misato emerged sometime later wearing a loose wrap around skirt that was short enough that it might have passed for a belt, and cut off halter top that was just long enough to cover the bottom of her bra. She headed directly for the kitchen. From the living room the sound of the fridge door opening could be heard. Misato appeared in the doorway from the kitchen with a can of beer in each hand. She stopped.  
  
She was looking at the telephone that was sitting by itself on a table to the right of her. She took a step towards it and peered at it intently. The message indicator was definitely not lit up. She transferred the can in her right hand to her left and then reached out towards the phone. Then she stopped, her fingers positioned just above the handset.  
  
"Now why would I want to do that?" she asked of herself.  
  
Still she paused, looking at the phone and not moving. She looked down at the beer in her hand, then back to the phone.  
  
"Whatever. He's probably not home."  
  
She took one of the cans from her right hand and popped the top. She drank deeply and burped with a slightly guilty smile. She then stepped over the back of the couch and sat down in front of her food.  
  
+++  
  
UN counsellor Allan James was in his office. He used to like getting in early, but now it was just habit, and he was getting old. His staff was used to it though, his Executive Assistant for instance. Very efficient young man, almost like an English butler, he anticipated the counsellor just enough to be appreciated, and stopped just short of being intrusive.  
  
James sipped at his coffee and looked at the stack of paper on his desk. He was still a bit groggy from the late night teleconference of the previous evening. His EA was hovering just to his left.  
  
"Michael, which of these are important?" he asked, motioning to the stack of files.  
  
The assistant replied, "The one on top sir is the Climatalogical Study you've been expecting."  
  
James set his coffee down, and reached out to touch the cover of the document that lay on top of the stack. It wasn't a very thick report considering the nature of its contents and that worried him slightly. The people who wrote papers like these were usually very thorough types, the types who wore white lab coats and had bad haircuts.  
  
"It doesn't look very thick." James said.  
  
"No Sir that is the Executive Summary, the full report is on disk inside. The full report is 2800 pages. I did not think that you would read it right away, nor would you want me to print out such materials," Michael responded.  
  
James put his hand that he had reached out with back in his lap. He waited for a moment then spoke.  
  
"Have you read it?" James asked of him.  
  
"Yes sir," Michael stated.  
  
"And?"  
  
"The original study seems to have been correct, though a little conservative on the timeline. We have approximately 200 years." Michael related.   
  
James grunted not having words capable of conveying his disgust. He was expecting no less but he was still furious at the mess he had inherited for his predecessors.   
  
'Greedy old bastards,' he thought to himself.  
  
"Does the report make recommendations on a course of action?" he asked since he really didn't want to read even the summary.  
  
"Nothing specific Sir. They present the same three options, domes, Terra-forming, and off-world colonies. Although they do point out that the probable success of a Terra-forming effort is considerably lower than the other options. It does however have great visibility when the time comes," Michael stated, paraphrasing.  
  
"I see." James said pausing, "Have the authors divided and reassigned, and give them the general idea what will happen if they leak their findings before I'm ready to release them. For that matter if you would please forget what you yourself have Michael."  
  
"Of course Sir," Michael said. "May I get you anything else right now Sir?"  
  
James looked at his coffee, thinking then spoke, "No Michael that will be all thank you."  
  
"Sir," Michael said as he turned to leave.  
  
Michael made absolutely no noise as he left the room, which was no small feat with the squeaky hardwood floors. James watched the door close and he was alone with his thoughts. He leaned back in his chair.  
  
"200 years and the surface won't be self-sustaining," he said aloud to no one.  
  
Notes to Self and Passers By:  
  
Whew, took my time getting that out didn't I? Well in my defence I am; lazy, I wrote "First Name Basis" for the WAFF contest, I'm pre-reading for a couple of people, and I'm helping out on EFO. Anyway I hope you liked this third part. This finishes up on the introduction of the Children and in the next chapter things are really going to get interesting. Big, big thanks to the people that helped me out by pre-reading, namely; Weltall Elite, Chesed, Blue Taboo and Slicknfly. Comments and Criticism are welcome. THX, Ghola 


End file.
